HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and more — 5 credit cards to explore this festive season

This festive season, you can shop till you drop and come out a winner — provided you are a canny credit card user. Companies like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank are in the race to offer rewards to buyers of anything from movie tickets to home appliances, clothes and much else. Multiple brands, merchants like Amazon and Flipkart, and finance companies are tying up to shower consumers with deals, discounts, and cashbacks.

Users can enjoy several offers and deals on various lifestyle categories. For example, travel cards often provide discounts on dining and accommodation. This can help you beat the festive rush and even wipe away the high-season premium. The discounts and rewards can also be an incentive to opt for an upgrade without stretching your budget much, said Pankaj Bansal, CBO, BankBazaar.com while talking to CNBC-TV18.com.

“Shopping and cashback cards, on the other hand, will give you bigger discounts and rewards while shopping online and offline for consumer durables, clothes, etc. Lifestyle cards offer discounts on dining, making celebrations more enjoyable. They also offer discounts on other lifestyle expenses such as subscriptions of different kinds, which often make good festive gifts. All this makes celebrations easier on your pocket,” Bansal said.

This is a card provided by private sector lender Axis Bank and offers 5 percent cashback on the payment of bills and phone, DTH, or other recharges through Google Pay and 2-4 percent cashback on other types of spends.

Additionally, it provides up to four complimentary accesses to domestic airport lounges in a calendar year, 1 percent fuel surcharge waiver and 20 percent discount on dining bills.

Who should use it?

According to Bankbazaar, If you are looking for a credit card that offers cashback on your spends, then you can opt for the Axis Bank ACE credit card as it is offers the highest cashback on certain brands and categories.

This card offers e-gift voucher of Rs 5,000 on payment of the annual fees and free movie tickets worth Rs 6,000 every year. Also, cardholders can earn up to

50,000 bonus reward points.

Users can choose vouchers from any of these brands — Yatra, Hush Puppies/Bata, Pantaloons, Aditya Birla Fashion and Shoppers Stop. The card also offers Club Vistara and Trident Privilege Membership.

Who should use?

This card is best for those looking for some bonus reward points and regulars with shopping and watching movies.

The Axis Bank Flipkart credit card is a co-branded shopping credit card from Axis Bank and Flipkart. It offers welcome benefit of Rs 3,300 and 5 percent cashback on purchases at Flipkart, Myntra and 2GUD. Moreover, 4 percent cashback is available on purchases made from preferred merchants.

Who should use?

Those who are frequent with online shopping and is looking to do the same this festive season may use it

This is a co-branded card that offers cashback to frequent shoppers at Amazon, no-cost EMI and more. Amazon Prime users get more privileges than non-Prime members.

While regular shoppers earn 3 percent cashback on all purchases made on Amazon, Amazon Prime members will earn 5 percent cashback on all purchases made on Amazon.com. Additionally,  cashback is also available on spends made on Amazon Pay partner merchants.

Who should use?

According to Paisabazaar, this card is a good option for those who mainly use Amazon online shopping and are planning to do the same this festive season as they can receive a decent cashback.

On top of that, customers who want to make big-ticket purchases can use the no-cost EMIs to pay off the sum in easy instalments.

This card offers a cashback of up to 5 percent on apps such as Myntra, Flipkart, TataCliq and Amazon. Additionally, cardholders can  enjoy complimentary access to domestic airport lounges.

Using HDFC Regalia Credit Card, customers can earn up to 10,000 bonus reward points on achieving the spending milestone.

Who should use?

It is an all-rounder credit card that lets users save on multiple categories, including travel, shopping, dining and more, as per Paisabazaar.